I love counter-intuitive subjects, games and the like because with some extra study you can put yourself head and shoulders above others.
This is why I make money when I play poker. In the game of poker, the correct play is often not what an amateur player would expect. If an amateur sits down at a table and plays with me, they typically make plays they think are right without knowing their odds and how it affects their total profit in the long run. Most of the time I end up with their money.
And why do they make the decisions they make? Well, most of the time it’s emotional. They fold when they should raise because they are afraid I have a better hand. They raise when they should fold because they want a sense of adventure. They are deciding based on emotional motivators and de-motivators rather than on the true odds of the situation. If this wasn’t the case and all players really knew what the right plays were statistically, no one would ever win money because in the long run every player gets dealt the same hands and is put in the same situations.
Not only does this happen in games like poker, but it happens in PPC management as well because there are many things about it that are counter-intuitive. Let me give you a couple to think about.
1. Your cost per conversion can be too low.
Would you rather pay $2.00 per conversion or $1.00 per conversion? Contrary to what you might instinctively think, the answer may be the former. Why? What if paying $2.00 per conversion causes you to make 100 conversions and paying $1.00 per conversion causes you to make 80? If your average sale was $10, paying $2.00 per conversion would gross you $800, while paying $1.00 per conversion would gross you $720. You should raise instead of fold.
2. You don’t have to have a monthly budget.
I’m not saying no one should have a monthly budget on their PPC accounts. But, there’s a scenario where it just doesn’t make sense. That’s when your account is hitting your company’s ROI targets. If this is the case, why would you put a cap on what you spend? You’re just losing money. Throw more chips in the pot.
PPC account management isn’t something you just want to dive into head first and hope for the best, just like you don’t want to sit down at a poker table with professionals and hope for the best. In both cases, you can do OK as an amateur, but you may come to realize that you are either slowly losing money or not maximizing the chance you have to make it.
Oh, by the way, here’s a bonus:
3. Just because Google encourages you to do something, doesn’t mean you should do it. 🙂